Kansas is one of the top 10 agriculture states. It’s an important industry to the state economy and provides over 250,000 jobs. The top commodities include cattle and calves, wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Check out more agriculture facts on the Sunflower State.
- There are about 58,569 farms in Kansas. 84.6% of these farms are family-owned.
- The average size of a Kansas farm is 781 acres.
- Nearly 88% of the land is used for agriculture, which is over 45,700,000 acres. 21 million acres are used for crops and over 14 million acres are for grazing animals.
- Over 40% of the total state economy comes from agriculture.
- The top commodities in the state include cattle and calves, wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans.
- There is over 6.4 million head of cattle across the state. That’s over twice the population of Kansas.
- Kansas produces nearly 64% of the countries grain sorghum and is ranked 2nd in sorghum for silage production.
- The state grows over 23% of winter wheat, making it the top producing state.
- About 20,000 farmers grow wheat in the state.
- The state is ranked 3rd in cattle production and beef processing.
- Kansas gets its nickname, Sunflower state, because of its sunflower production. The state is ranked fourth.
- In 2016, the state harvested 58,000 acres and sold 86.6 million pounds of sunflowers.
- There are over 160,000 dairy cows on over 300 dairy farms.
- The agriculture industry employs more than 254,000 people in the state, which is almost 13% of the entire workforce.
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Sources:
Farm Flavor
Kansas Department of Agriculture
Beef2Live.com